feet  of  water,  or  in  acre  feet,  that  is,  acres  of  land  covered  one  foot 
deep  in  water,  of  459,137  acres.  This  quantity  of  water  is  equiva- 
lent to  i .2  feet  in  depth  of  water  distributed  over  every  square  foot 
of  land  on  this  island.  To  deliver  the  416,500,000  gallons  used 
daily  from  the  artesian  system  of  these  islands  would  require  a 
ditch  40  feet  wide  and  5 feet  deep,  flowing  at  a speed  of  180  feet 
per  minute.  That  is  quite  a good  sized  river.  The  yearly  supply 
would  fill  a lake  3 miles  wide,  20  miles  long  and  10  feet  deep. 
Quite  a nice  little  pond  of  water. 
“The  rainfall  in  Honolulu  for  the  past  24  years,  1885  to  1908  in- 
clusive, averages  29.28  inches  per  annum.  Now,  the  question  is 
where  does  the  artesian  water  supply  come  from.  Here  they  are 
drawing  equivalent  of  one-half  of  the  average  rainfall  in  Hono- 
lulu. From  the  best  information  that  we  can  get  the  artesian 
system  is  replenished  by  the  rainfall  on  the  higher  levels  of  the 
island,  in  the  forest  we  will  say,  where  it  is  retained ; but  a good 
percentage  percolates  through  and  finally  reaches  its  way  into  the 
artesian  system.  The  probabilities  are  that  the  area  wherein  this 
percolation  takes  place,  where  the  water  reaches  the  artesian  sys- 
tem, does  not  exceed  if  it  equals  150  square  miles  on  this  island. 
That  means,  if  it  equals  150  square  miles,  that  5 feet  depth  of 
water  must  percolate  through  that  entire  area  to  reach  our  artesian 
water  system  in  order  to  replenish  the  draft  made  yearly. 
“This  is  an  illustration  of  the  necessity  of  conserving  the  forest 
areas  on  this  island  to  conserve  the  water  supply  and  protect  this 
.artesian  system,  for  if  it  fails,  what  would  happen  ? These  planta- 
tions raise  their  sugar  by  artesian  water.  If  that  artesian  system 
failed,  they  would  fail.  That  would  mean  a curtailment  of 
revenue  for  the  Government  as  well  as  revenue  for  all  of  the 
shareholders  and  loss  of  their  investment. 
“The  taxes  paid  by  the  sugar  plantations  on  the  Island  of 
Oahu  for  1908  amounted  to  $245,192.80.  What  taxes  were  di- 
rectly paid  by  those  of  their  employees  upon  their  properties  and 
incomes  and  personal  taxes,  I am  not  prepared  to  say,  but  I don't 
imagine  I would  be  far  wrong  if  I should  say  that  it  will  easily 
reach  another  $50,000  or  $75,000. 
“I  call  to  mind  an  incident  of  the  effect  of  forests  upon  rainfall 
that  touched  the  interests  of  my  wife’s  family  very  materially. 
As  many  of  you  know,  her  father,  Captain  Makee,  owned  the 
Rose  Ranch,  what  is  known  as  Ulupalakua,  now  a cattle  ranch  on 
the  Island  of  Maui.  When  I arrived  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands, 
that  was  considered  a flourishing  sugar  plantation,  one  of  the 
most  flourishing  sugar  plantations  in  the  country.  It  was  ex- 
ceedingly profitable.  It  was  then  suffering  from  a drought.  The 
Island  of  Klahoolawe  at  the  time  that  plantation  was  started  was 
covered, — the  top  of  the  island  was  covered  with  a dense  forest. 
As  the  trade  winds  brought  down  their  clouds  laden  with  mois- 
ture, they  would  commence  to  gather  over  the  Island  of  Kahoo- 
lawe  in  the  early  morning,  and  the  area  of  this  cloud  rack  would 
